PITTSBURGH -- Third-period goals by Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel ruined former teammate Marc-Andre Fleury's homecoming as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Fleury, who won three Stanley Cups with the Penguins -- including the last two seasons -- returned to Pittsburgh for the first time since Vegas selected him in the expansion draft last summer. Fleury, who stopped 33 shots, beat his former teammates in December in Las Vegas.
In the first meeting between the teams in Pittsburgh, Malkin gave the Penguins a 4-2 lead with his 30th of the season at 3:09 of the third period. Malkin, who scored in his fifth straight game, became the fifth player in team history to score 30 goals on six separate occasions.
Kessel extended the lead to 5-2 a little more than three minutes later on a one-touch, backdoor feed from Malkin.
Jake Guentzel, Ryan Reaves and Ian Cole also scored for Pittsburgh, which won for the fifth time in six games.
Matt Murray, Fleury's former understudy in Pittsburgh, made 21 saves to top his mentor (see full recap).
Bruins win to close in on NHL-best Lightning
DETROIT -- Sean Kuraly and David Krejci scored in the second period, and the surging Boston Bruins rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night.
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Boston is 17-1-4 in its last 22 games and only three points behind NHL-leading Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings never mounted much sustained pressure on goalie Tuukka Rask, who improved to 19-0-2 in his last 21 games.
Martin Frk scored a power-play goal in the second for Detroit, but the Bruins quickly wiped out that lead later in the period. Danton Heinen scored with 11:39 remaining in the third to put Boston up by two.
With their goalie pulled, the Red Wings moved within one when Frans Nielsen scored with 1:24 to play, but Boston held on (see full recap).
Backstrom's late score lifts Capitals over Blue Jackets
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Nicklas Backstrom scored the winning goal with 43 seconds left, Braden Holtby made 37 saves and the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Brandon Dubinsky tied the score for Columbus late in the third period and the game appeared headed to overtime before Backstrom jumped on a pass from T.J. Oshie and beat Sergei Bobrovsky for his 200th career goal.
John Carlson and Tom Wilson also scored as the Capitals rallied to break a two-game skid and hang onto first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Bobrovsky had 22 saves for the Blue Jackets, who have lost four in a row and nine of 11. They're still in playoff contention, but so are all the teams in the division.
Washington (31-17-5) won the first leg of a home-and-home this week with Columbus (27-22-4) (see full recap).
